The present invention relates generally to a text-to-speech synthesis system capable of generating synthetic speech in accordance with drama data for example on the basis of user-specified phoneme data.
Conventional text-to-speech synthesis apparatuses performs language analysis on entered character data and link the analyzed character data with phoneme data stored in their storage sections in accordance with predetermined rules to generate synthetic speech. These text-to-speech synthesis apparatuses may link the character data with stored male phoneme data or female phoneme data for example to sound the character data in male or female voice.
Some writers want to their novels and dramas for example to be recited by their favorite readers such as actors and actresses for example. Actually, however, the achievement of this objective is very difficult because these writers must pay costly recitation fees and make the cumbersome arrangements with readers such as their work schedules, for example. Especially, for amateur writers, it is virtually impossible to make their writings be recited by professional readers.
Normally, the above-mentioned conventional text-to-speech synthesis apparatuses can generate synthetic speech only on the basis of the phoneme data stored in their storage sections and therefore cannot generate the synthetic speech of user's specified readers.